Sunday, January 6, 2013

MacAulay Makes Moose Debut

Stephen MacAulay, traded to the Mooseheads by the Saint
John Sea Dogs yesterday in exchange for two draft picks, made his Halifax
debut. The 20-year old forward played on a line with Stefan Fournier and
Dominic Beauchemin. He finished the game with no points, five shots, a -3
rating, and went 5-for-11 in faceoffs.

The Mooseheads, who have been playing without Nathan
MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin, and Martin Frk over the past few weeks due to the
world juniors, fell to 32-4-2-1 on the season. They have a shot at matching
Saint John’s 2010-11 record of 58-7-1-2.

Halifax is back in action on Wednesday against Aidan
Kelly and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The Moose travel to Saint John on February
20.

Saw some people comment that the Sea Dogs didn’t get
enough for MacAulay. A second- and fourth-round pick is pretty good value for
20-year old forward. Remember, it’s difficult to find a team this time of year
that is willing to make room for a 20-year old and give up a decent return.

MacAulay has a great chance to play in his fourth
straight President Cup final and third straight Memorial Cup.

Jonathan Huberdeau’s insurance goal in the third period
of the 2011 Memorial Cup final is arguably the biggest goal in franchise
history. MacAulay had an assist on that goal.

With Jonathan Huberdeau not expected to play for the club
again, Ryan Tesink, Kevin Gagne, and MacAulay all traded, Jakub Izacky is Saint
John’s leading scorer. He has 15 points.

In 34 games with Saint John, MacAulay had 36 points.
That’s already a career high.

MacAulay was the last Sea Dog remaining from the Jacques
Beaulieu era.

Here’s John Moore’s interview with MacAulay. Cam
Russell is also interviewed.

And here are some of MacAulay’s Sea Dogs highlights
posted on SeaDogsTV.